SystemCrash:
golferfrank63: love the game but putting horrible glad to meant you all but giving up on game bye :(
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I think almost every masters here would tell you that their putting sucked for a while and then, magically, they started to "feel it". I'm sure we will too.
Rob
Rob's statement above compelled me to respond...
Yes... my putting sucked... still does, at times. But as Rob says, there comes a time when, after many many rounds, that "the feel" of a putt takes over. YJim's dilemma above illustrates this well.
After a while, I became "unafraid" of hitting a putt past the hole. It's hard to put into words but... I sort of "split the difference" on my aim/distance which results in a more firmly-struck putt at about half the left/right distance from the the hole. I know... I know... wtf is this guy talkin' 'bout... ?
Let's say I have a 5ft putt on a "very fast" green with a left to right break of a foot... (determined by quickly-moving "speed-dots" on the putting grid)... there is no ^ or v (rise or drop in slope) with this putt...
I line-up this putt, taking green speed into consideration, as if it is a 6ft putt. In so doing, I've eliminated some of the break, so I then have to move the aimer closer to the cup to compensate for this lesser break. It's not rocket science... but it was hard for me to accept the consequences of many missed putts before I found "the feel".
Sometimes, as YJim's pic shows, stroking a putt with what seems to be enough power just doesn't get the ball to the cup. Very nicely-read putt, but no cigar. With putts that break that severely, "feel" is the only way to get them to drop. Some days I've got it... some I don't. But more and more, I'm finding that taking "risks" like this is resulting in more satisfying rounds... and further development of "the feel".